Christmas Day is Britain’s most eagerly awaited national holiday and the highlight of a month-long season of parties and festivities, although it may seem bereft of life on 25 December as offices, banks, and most pubs, restaurants, museums, theatres, and public transport shut down for the day. Christmas is also not a particularly happy time for lonely and socially isolated people, worsening depression or even encouraging suicidal thoughts. The day often turns out to be something of an anti-climax, coming as it does after a relentless build-up lasting weeks or months.
It was only last year that Prime Minister Boris Johnson, in his address to the nation on 19 December 2020, had declared “with a very heavy heart I must tell you we cannot continue with Christmas as planned”. This year, Christmas has once again come under threat, even though the majority of British people are by now vaccinated. The Christmas schedule for 2021 has been disrupted by the arrival on our shores of Omicron, the newest variant of the coronavirus. Fearing the uncontained spread of this variant, Professor Chris Whitty, Chief Medical Officer for England, informed the House of Commons Health and Social Care Committee on 16 December 2021 that “it is sensible for people to cut down on work or other interactions with people, including potentially social ones, which are less important to them so that they reduce their chances of catching Covid and indeed reduce their chances of passing it on”.
The uncertainty over Christmas this year, including the possible introduction of Plan C restrictions, gives us occasion to step back and reassess its wider relevance to contemporary British society. Although considered a religious holiday by many, Christmas has pagan origins in winter solstice celebrations (Yule) and lacks historical validity, making Jesus Christ a Capricorn when He may have actually been born in spring. Some fundamentalist Christian denominations (Jehovah’s Witnesses; Seventh-Day Adventists), and also more liberal Quakers, consider Christmas as a secular holiday at best, with no religious implications whatsoever. For similar reasons, the celebration of Christmas was banned in England under Oliver Cromwell (1647 to 1660) and by early Puritan settlers in America. If you consider it a Christian holiday, you have to also acknowledge the fact that a steady loss of Christian identity in Britain has led to falling numbers of believers in the faith. As of 2019, according to the Office for National Statistics, the Christian religion was subscribed to by only just over half (51 per cent) of the population of England and Wales.
Christmas may have retained some religious elements, centred around the birth of Christ and the Christian message, including nativity plays, carol services (including the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols, from King’s College chapel in Cambridge), and midnight mass, but has become more of a secular and commercialised occasion today, providing an excuse for unrestrained socialising and merrymaking.
Covid restrictions have impacted on many aspects of the festive season. Christmas being a social occasion it is probably not best suited to social distancing and mask mandates. The reintroduction of home-working and restrictions on indoor gatherings may have seen off many office parties, which tend to be boozy, raucous, indiscreet, and distinctly irreligious occasions. Some parts of London are reported to have turned into “ghost towns” after hours, as people stay away from pubs and clubs. More restrained family gatherings at Christmas may, on the other hand, may still take place under the protections afforded by one or more “household bubbles”, although many family members may choose not to travel large distances to participate this year.
Under threat this year are events and venues that involve the public and unrestricted mingling of people, such as office parties, drinks with friends at the pub, Boxing Day shopping, and the pantomime season that follows Christmas, not to mention foreign holiday breaks in the winter Sun. Many parties have thus been called off and group bookings at restaurants cancelled as people choose to avoid the unwelcome attentions of the seemingly rapacious Omicron variant.
Parts of the Christmas industry that do not involve social interactions, on the other hand, will undoubtedly thrive, despite any Covid restrictions. While supply chain issues may affect the availability of certain gifts, such as electronic items reliant on scarce semiconductor chips, Santa Claus (Father Christmas) and his gift-distribution supply chain remains virus-proof, meaning that Christmas stockings will be stuffed with goodies as usual. Advent calendars that cover the first 24 or 25 days of December remain popular, especially when loaded with chocolates, alcohol, or beauty products. Christmas cards, especially those supporting various charities, are also in circulation, although electronic versions are commoner as we rely less on traditional postal services. Festive decorations, including Christmas trees, fairy lights, candles, tinsel, baubles, and the trio of holly, ivy, and mistletoe all continue to proclaim Christmas in households across the land.
On Christmas Day, there is the usual diet of recycled sentimental and feel-good films and classic sitcoms to look forward to, as well as the pre-recorded Queen’s Speech at 3:00 pm. Fears of supply chain interruptions appear to have prompted stockpiling of certain seasonal items, so that the all-important Christmas Lunch can still go ahead, complete with roast turkey, or vegetarian alternatives, accompanied by roast vegetables (potatoes, Brussels sprouts, parsnips), chestnut stuffing, and ‘pigs in blankets’, to be followed by Christmas pudding and mince pies. Lunch will invariably be complemented by Christmas crackers, complete with paper crowns, silly jokes, and mini-gifts. In other words, Christmas Day can proceed very much as usual, behind closed doors as always.
Christmas is a complicated affair, requiring much planning and costing a lot of money. But even the best of plans can be spoilt by an unpredictable coronavirus, which is set to take the upper hand for a second year running. It seems sensible to first ascertain what remains permissible and to then make the best of an unsatisfactory situation, all the while hoping for a far more pleasant Christmas 2022.
Ashis Banerjee